Saturday, July 31, 2010

Hike/Run - T'was Fun!

My timing was a little wacky, but I had wanted to do this hike/run that starts near Castaways Restaurant by the Burbank, "De Belle Muncipal Golf Course." I ran over to Wildwood Canyon, then up a long, steep trail to some transmitter towers, then north on a fire road that skirts those mountain tops, and down Stough Canyon back to my car.

I started at 11:30am today, so it was 81 degrees for much of the hike/run, and it took me some time to do the whole loop. But I enjoyed it. When I got to the transmitter towers, which I've indicated by the most upper right part of the blue trail between miles 3 and 4 on the enclosed map, I could see to Palos Verdes, to downtown, and well past the 210 freeway. I was up above the hazy smog that you'll notice is lingering today.

The sky was a darker blue once I got up there. My ascent from lowest to highest point was 1400 feet to 2800 feet. A nice 1400 foot gain. So it was definitely a good workout.

Here is the enclosed topographic map of what I did. You'll notice the green dot where I parked. Only, I went counter clockwise, rather than clockwise as is indicated on the map. i chose to do this so that I'd get the larger ascent out the way first. Glad I did. It only got hotter as I went. I just kind of created this loop myself after looking at some street and fire road maps on the internet.

Just to give you a reference point, I parked my car at the intersection of Stough Canyon and De Bell Drive, in the city of Burbank. It's kind of right smack in the middle of the golf course greens. See the second map for a closer up street map.